


The One Where Bucky Wins Three Dollars And A Date To The Dance

by wickedwitchcraft



Series: SamBucky Ficlets [36]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Getting Together, It's hard to explain, M/M, Stabbing, Winter Falcon, and there's no details really, he's not like a punk punk but he kinda is, just one, mentions of clint, nerd!sam wilson, punk!bucky barnes, sambucky - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 17:25:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14698905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedwitchcraft/pseuds/wickedwitchcraft
Summary: Sam and Bucky both end up in the Vice Principals office, for very different reasons, they get along better than expected.





	The One Where Bucky Wins Three Dollars And A Date To The Dance

**Author's Note:**

> this is inspired by a post on tumblr but i dont remember how to put links on here!!!! there's a link on this fic on my writing tumblr though if you want to see it, it's at jeffersonshattricks. Hopefully this is okay! i am very tired, and havent written in ages and am like...totally drained now. but i am so glad that i wrote anything at all. love you guys! hope you like it!
> 
> P.s. - this is my 100th fic i'm posting on here aaaaahhhhh!

Bucky scuffs his feet all the way down the hall to the office, leaving little black marks from his boots as he goes. He strides into the office and sees quite possibly the cutest boy he’s ever seen. The cute boy from his physics class to be more accurate. There are seven other seats open, Bucky sits himself down next the boy, Sam. Bucky knows his name because he pays attention, not because he’s a stalker or anything. He turns to Sam and receives a nervous smile.

“What are you in for?” he asks, his fingers drumming out a jittery beat on his knee.

“Oh, I just need to ask if it’s okay to skip class to help run sound and lights in the auditorium for a presentation.” He says, smiling. Bucky watches him pick at a loose string on his jeans and bites his lip. Sam turns to look at him again.

“What about you? What are you in for?” he says, smiling again, a bigger smile this time. Bucky’s heart flutters in his chest.

“I stabbed someone with a screwdriver.” He says, and he’s smiling, because Sam had been smiling. But Sam has stopped smiling. Because Bucky had just admitted to stabbing someone…with a smile on his face. Bucky dropped his smile and cleared his throat, looking into his lap and mentally berating himself for being such an idiot.

“We lead very different lives.” Sam says, Bucky looks at him, he’s staring into his lap, his eyes wide like he’s still a little shocked.

“Yeah. Yeah we do.” Bucky said, smiling again. He really couldn’t help it. Sam was just so cute. They sat quietly for a moment, the only sound in the office the muted voices floating through the office door.

“Why’d you stab someone?” Sam asked, turning his head toward Bucky. He’d said it quickly, blurted it really. And Bucky saw him grimace, like he hadn’t meant to say it. But he kept looking at Bucky, fully embracing his question and not backing down. Bucky looked at Sam and shrugged.

“Seemed like a good idea at the time.” He said, his voice serious, and little more rough than usual. Sam’s eyes widened again and that nervous look was back.

“I’m kidding.” Bucky said quickly, reaching out and touching Sam’s arm with his fingertips. He couldn’t help it, he had to touch him, couldn’t stop his hand even if he’d wanted to. Which he didn’t.

“He dared me too.” Bucky explained. It clearly wasn’t a good enough explanation because Sam looked skeptical.   

“Okay so my friend Clint, right? You might know him, I think you have English with him, he wrote that weird paper about how running away and joining the circus would actually be really beneficial to his mental health and wellbeing,” Bucky explained. He received a blank look in return and kept going.

“So anyway, we were in woodshop and engineering and he was all ‘dude you should stab me with that screwdriver’ and I was like ‘why would I stab you with a screwdriver?’ and he was like ‘I’ll give you three dollars if you stab me with it’ and I was like ‘you don’t have three dollars, you can’t even buy pizza at lunch and one slice is only 75 cents’ and he was all ‘I totally have three dollars, look’. And he pulled out three dollar bills and gave me this shit eating grin that he gets when he’s right. It’s very annoying but not why I stabbed him I promise.” Bucky held his hand out as he promised, giving his word as he kept talking.

“So then he’s like ‘I dare you to stab me’. and I was like ‘you’ll give me that three dollars if I stab you’ and he said yes, so I was like ‘and you’ll shut up?’ and he said yes, so I stabbed him.” Bucky said, nodding to himself, and then scratching at his head.

Sam was staring at him.

“It’s not my proudest moment.” He admitted, looking into his lap, his ears feeling hot.

“Did he give you the money?” Sam asked, Bucky looked at him through his lashes, he was smiling again. Bucky dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out three crumpled one-dollar bills, smiling brightly at Sam. Sam laughed and shook his head.

“Well that’s good at least I guess.” He said to his knees. Bucky couldn’t tell if it was wishful thinking or if Sam was blushing.

“Yeah. I mean, I’m sure I’ll be suspended for a bit. But what else is new?” he said with a shrug. Sam looked back up at him and stared for a long moment, Bucky couldn’t think of anything witty to say so he just looked back, blinking at him like a wide-eyed idiot. The door of the office opened and someone stormed past them before Vice Principal Fury stepped out.

“Wilson, come on in.” he motioned with two fingers for Sam to step inside. Sam startled and shook his head before getting up and walking past Fury into the office, Bucky watched him go.

“Barnes.” Fury said,

“I’ll deal with you in a minute.” He said, sounding tired. Bucky smiled and nodded. Fury sighed and stepped back into his office.

Bucky relaxed in his chair and smiled up at the ceiling. Thinking that that had been a pretty good conversation to have with the boy of his dreams. Even if he had been doing most of the talking. But Sam hadn’t seemed too bothered that Bucky had stabbed his friend with a screwdriver for three dollars, so he was counting it as a win.

~*~*~

Bucky waited for the assembly hall to fill up and then slipped out the side door when everyone was still milling around finding seats. It took him a few minutes to figure out how to get up to the catwalk and the lighting booth but he managed it. He walked slowly, trying not to look down, he’d never been a huge fan of heights. He found Sam sitting in the dark, looking peaceful as he moved things around on the soundboard. He startled when Bucky made a small sound to get his attention.

“What are you doing up here?” Sam asked.

“Ssshhh.” Bucky said, putting his finger his lips and stepping closer.

“I wanted to see what was so fun that you wanted to skip class for.” Bucky said, wiggling his eyebrows at Sam in the dark. Sam looked at him for a moment and then gestured to the chair next to him. Bucky smiled and sat down, his hands automatically moving to hover over all the buttons. Sam grabbed his hands and gave him a stern look.

“Don’t touch anything.” He whispered, giving Bucky’s hands a squeeze and then letting them go. Bucky held his hands up and then laced his fingers together and dropped them in his lap. Sam turned back to what he was doing, Bucky saw him smile.

They sat in the dark as the hall quieted down and the speaker started talking. Some dude talking about colleges and how best to get accepted and Bucky was getting bored. But he was determined not to fuck this up for Sam, so he sat as still as he could, his leg bouncing like always, that was out of his control. He didn’t notice the metal under his foot squeaking until Sam’s hand was on his knee, warm and strong but not aggressive. Bucky gulped and looked at Sam, turning to him slowly in the dark, the rest of his body only aware of Sam’s hand on him.

“Sorry.” Bucky mouthed.

“It’s okay. Just…” he mouthed back and then lifted his hand and made a stopping motion toward Bucky’s leg. Bucky nodded and bit his lip, forcing his leg to stay still too. The man was asking for questions now. And Bucky couldn’t take it any longer.

“You like being up here?” Bucky whispered in the dark, leaning closer to Sam so that he didn’t have to speak as loud. Sam leaned toward him too, pressing their shoulders together.

“Yes. Now hush.” Sam said, and he had that small smile on his lips again. Bucky wanted to kiss that smile, see if it would get bigger against his lips.

“Okay but, it’s so high, and boring.” Bucky whispered, pressing closer still, just to see if he could get away with it. Sam looked at him.

“You afraid of heights?” he sounded amused. Bucky frowned at him.

“Not afraid. Just not…fond of them.” Bucky said, picking at the whole in the knee of his jeans.

“Don’t worry. It won’t fall.” Sam said, and he sounded so reassuring. Bucky wanted to make a smart-ass comment, tell Sam he knew it wouldn’t fall, but he couldn’t manage it, got distracted by Sam’s hand when he went to move knobs and levers around on the soundboard.

“If it did would you catch me?” Bucky asked, still staring at Sam’s hand.

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I?” Sam said, absent mindedly, like it wasn’t even something he had to think about. Bucky smiled into his lap and shut up. For a while.

The hall was emptying, the students loud and rowdy as they headed to the buses and their cars. Bucky bit his lip as he watched Sam clean up the space, turning things this way and that, moving with ease, like they weren’t 30ft in the air. His leg was shaking again, the metal squeaking under his foot.

“So have you thought about it?” Sam asked. Bucky shook his head and moved his eyes to Sam’s face, away from his arms where they’d been lingering.

“Huh?” Bucky said, cleverly. Sam snorted.

“The presentation. College. All that. Have you thought about it? Or are you not-“ Sam cut off and looked at Bucky, he looked guilty.

“Am I not what?” Bucky asked, feigning innocence, turning his chair side to side.

“Nothing. Sorry.” Sam said.

“Oh, you meant am I not going to college because I stab people with screwdrivers huh?” Bucky said, laughing when Sam’s eyes widened and his guilty look intensified.

“Yeah. But I shouldn’t have thought that.” He said, shoving a pair of nice looking headphones into his backpack. Bucky nodded and then shrugged.

“It’s cool. Justifiable thought. Logical.” Bucky said, staring at Sam openly.

“And yeah I have thought about it.” He said, tilting his head to the side and smiling. Sam’s face brightened.

“Oh yeah? Where are you thinking about going?” Sam asked, sounding excited, while talking about colleges. Bucky snorted.

“I already know where I’m going.” Bucky said, spinning around all the way in his chair this time, looking at the ceiling as he moved in a slow circle.

“Oh really. That’s awesome. Where?” Sam asked. Bucky looked at him as he came to a stop.

“You won’t believe me if I tell you.” Bucky said, biting his lip.

“Tell me anyway.” Sam said, he was literally on the edge of his seat. Bucky laughed through his nose and shook his head.

“You’re such a nerd.” He said, and immediately regretted it. The excitement in Sam’s face disappeared, he sat back in his chair and looked into his lap.

“Hey whoa no, I meant that in a good way. Like…fondly.” Bucky said, moving forward a bit and bumping his knee against Sam’s. Sam looked back up him, cautious.

“It didn’t sound fond.” Sam said. Bucky grimaced.

“I’m sorry. I…I’ve never been good with inflection.” Bucky said, giving Sam a strained half smile.

“Inflection. Good word.”

“Thanks. I’m not a total idiot. Despite what my actions and words might suggest.” Bucky teased, bumping Sam’s knee again. Sam smiled and rolled his eyes.

“So where are you going? You have to tell me now. Since you hurt my feelings.” Sam said, crossing his arms.

“Oh do I?” Bucky asked, leaning back himself and mirroring Sam. Sam nodded and said nothing else.

“Okay fine. M.I.T.” Bucky said, quietly, feeling shy for some reason. Sam’s eyes widened and Bucky smiled.

“See, I told you you wouldn’t believe me.” Bucky said, smiling at Sam in the semi darkness of the auditorium.

“No no, I do, I just…that’s…not what I was expecting you to say.” Sam said, laughing a little.

“I know. No one ever expects me to say it.” Bucky said. Sam nodded at him.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the delinquent look I’ve got going on.” Bucky said, looking at Sam through his lashes.

“You mean the James Dean, leather jacket, thing? Or the long hair, don’t care what anyone thinks, attractive confidence, punk thing?” Sam said, smirking at Bucky. Bucky blinked at him.

“You think I’m attractive?” he asked, that was the only thing he heard Sam say. The only thing registering in his brain right now was the word “attractive” coming out of Sam’s mouth in regards to him. Sam swallowed loudly and stared at Bucky.

“I didn’t…I mean that’s not…that’s not what I.. what I meant. I mean-“ he cut off and swallowed again. He was definitely blushing now.

“You’re attractive too. Like…my god. So attractive.” Bucky said, bluntly. Sam’s eyes snapped back up to Bucky.

“What?” he said, it was close to a gasp.

“I find you, incredibly attractive. Like, and I don’t mean to sound creepy but, I watch you sometimes in physics, and when you’re working a hard problem you stick your tongue between your teeth and you get this little wrinkle on your forehead cuz you’re concentrating so hard. And so yeah, I uh…kinda have a big ol’ crush on you… so there’s that.” Bucky trailed off, licking his lips nervously as Sam stared at him, speechless.

“Unless that’s not what you meant when you said I’m attractive in which case you can just… ignore all that…” Bucky said, grimacing again, his face feeling warm enough to fry an egg on.

“I meant it that way.” Sam breathed. Bucky nodded awkwardly and licked his lips again.

“Cool. Cool cool cool.” He said, still nodding. Sam laughed and shook his head.

“You’re very odd.” He said, looking at Bucky, wiping his palms on his jeans. Bucky kept nodding.

“Yeah. I know.” He sighed.

“You’re really going to M.I.T?” Sam asked.

“Yeah. I got accepted early, actually.” Bucky said. Sam smiled at him again and scooted closer to the edge of his seat.

“What are you going for?”

“Mechanical Engineering. I like building things. Fixing things.” He said, picking at his jeans again.

“I’m sure you’ll be good at it.” Sam said.

“I hope so. What about you? You gonna do something with those physics skills you’ve got?” Bucky asked.

“How do you know about my physics skills?” Sam asked, looking shy again.

“Oh come on, everyone knows you’re like, a physics genius.” Bucky said with a shrug. Sam snorted.

“I’m not. I’m not even top of the class. I’m second.” He said dismissively.

“I know.” Bucky said, watching Sam, waiting to see if he would get it. He knew he would. But he’d never told anyone before and he wanted to see his face, so he could remember it.

“What do you mean you know? How could you know unless you-“ he cut off and stared at Bucky, his eyes shining in the dark.

“No.” he said, disbelief clear in his voice this time. Bucky didn’t say anything, just raised his hands up in front of him and wiggled his fingers, smiling through his jazz hands.

“You asshole!” Sam shouted, smacking Bucky on the shoulder. Bucky laughed.

“This whole time. Everyone in class keeps getting pissed at me because they think I’m fucking up the bell curve and it’s been _you_ the entire time!” he said, sounding thoroughly offended.

“I know! That’s why I never said anything!” Bucky said, laughing again when Sam scoffed at him.

“You’re an asshole.” Sam said, shaking his head again but smiling at Bucky. Bucky nodded and smiled.

“So what, you’re a physics genius too huh?” Sam asked, crossing his arms and looking more adorable than he should with a stern look on his face.

“Naw, you’re the physics genius. I’m a physics _wizard_.” Bucky said, smirking at Sam. Sam just stared at him.

“I hate you.”

“I know.” Bucky said with a laugh. Sam stared at him for a long time and then startled, grabbing his bookbag and jumping to his feet.

“Fuck. I’m gonna miss my bus!” He almost yelled and ran past Bucky. Bucky followed him as fast as he could manage, the height was still fucking with him. Sam made it out to parking lot long before Bucky. When Bucky finally managed to catch up Sam was standing on the sidewalk, alone, head hanging.

“Missed the bus huh?” Bucky said, scuffing his boots on the sidewalk and nudging Sam’s shoulder with his own.

“Yeah. Yeah I did, I wonder who’s fault that was?” Sam said, his voice dry.

“You’re gonna blame it on me? You’re the one who started asking about college man.” Bucky said. Sam shook his head and sighed.

“You don’t seem very upset about missing _your_ bus.” Sam said, frustration clear in his voice. Bucky shrugged and made a little noise.

“Nope. Not at all actually. Because I… have a car.” He said, bumping his shoulder against Sam’s and spinning to walk backwards away from Sam. Sam scoffed and raised and lowered his hands, clearly thinking Bucky was just leaving him there. Bucky turned around again and head for the back lot.

“Come on genius, I’ll take you home.” He called over his shoulder, smiling when he heard Sam flail behind him and nearly trip off the curb.

~*~*~

The car ride was awkwardly silent, even with the radio on. Bucky tried to start conversations a few times but only got one worded answers in return. Sam directed him to his house and then got out of the car, shutting the door carefully behind him. Bucky watched him walk to the door and duck inside. He put his car in drive and then slammed it back into park and threw himself out of the car.

He jogged up the driveway and jumped up and down in front of the door for a moment, taking a few deep breathes. He raised his hand and knocked three times. He heard a yelp from behind the door and then it swung open, a startled looking Sam standing in the opening.

“Oh hey, I wanted to- where you just standing against the door?” Bucky asked, getting distracted and asking a completely different question than he’d meant to.

“Maybe. Why? What do you want?” Sam asked, sounding irritated. Bucky flinched back a little and he saw Sam grimace.

“Sorry.” He muttered. Bucky shook his head and wiped his sweating palms on his torn-up jeans.

“I was just… I wanted to know if you maybe wanted to go out with me? Sometime. Or like…there’s a dance thing this weekend. We could go to that…if- if you want. Oh, you’re probably working the dance though huh? All the lights and such. Well shit, um…I could take you out after. If you don’t have a super early curfew or anything. We could go to T.G.I Fridays, my friend Wade works there and he can get us free cheese fries. Either or, anything you want.” Bucky rambled, shoving his hands deep in his pockets when he’d finished, looking at Sam through his eyelashes, afraid to look at him head on.

“Okay. Yeah- yeah we could do that.” Sam said, nodding and giving Bucky a shy smile.

“Which thing?” Bucky asked, his ears and neck feeling hot, he knew he had to be red, he always got so red when he was nervous.

“After the dance. But you have to come to the dance too.” Sam said, smiling wider, and Bucky swore that the gap in Sam’s teeth was gonna kill him one day.

“Okay. Shall I dress to the nines?” Bucky asked,

“Bow tie and tails and all that?”

Sam laughed, it burst out of him like it was a surprise.

“Do you have tails?” Sam asked.

“I do actually yeah. One of my aunts had a _very_ fancy wedding when she married her wife.” Bucky said, smiling and pushing himself onto the balls of his feet. Sam nodded, still smiling that blinding smile.

“Okay yeah, wear it. Be dapper.” He said, leaning against the door.

“I’m always dapper Sam Wilson. How dare you be so bold as to insinuate otherwise.” He said, crossing his arms and frowning.

“You’re wearing combat boots, skinny jeans with so many holes they might as well be a fishing net, and your shirt has a little bit of Clint’s blood on it. You think that’s dapper?” Sam asked, looking at him like he was crazy.

“Um… you forgot the jacket. The leather jacket really pulls the look together.” Bucky said, shaking his head.

“Oh of course. How dare I forget the jacket.” Sam said, rolling his eyes and looking at Bucky fondly.

“Yeah. How dare you.” Bucky said, pulling his lip between his teeth. He stared at Sam’s mouth for what was probably too long and then nodded to himself before jumping down the stairs on the porch.

“I’ll see you at school. And then whatever time you need me to pick you up to be at the school.” Bucky said, walking backwards down the drive.

“I have to be there way earlier than everyone else, you don’t have to take me.” Sam said, sounding a bit flustered.

“Hey, I am your date, and I will escort you to and from the dance, no matter how early. Besides, I like watching you work.” He said with an easy shrug. Sam looked at his feet and then back at Bucky.

“Okay. Sounds nice. I’ll see you in physics.”

“Yes. You will.” He said, turning to go to his car, and then spinning around again and jogging back up to Sam. Sam looked at him, blinking when Bucky just stood there.

“Did you forget something?” he asked.

“Yeah. A very important something.” Bucky nodded, then pressed forward and pressed his lips to Sam’s cheek. Then he spun around and jogged back to his car. He pulled the door open and Sam called after him.

“Hey, are you not suspended for stabbing Clint?” Sam asked. Bucky smiled at him.

“Naw. I mean…I _am_ …but not from the dance. I asked. My suspension starts after the dance. I was very specific with my bargaining.” Bucky said, leaning against his car.

“You bargained to not be suspended for the dance?” Sam asked, his arms wrapped around himself slowly.

“Well yeah, I had to be able to take you, didn’t I?” Bucky said, smiling at him across the yard.

“You were already planning on asking me to the dance this morning?” Sam asked, still looking a little unsure.

“Pretty much as soon as I saw you in the office, yeah, but you not freaking out about me stabbing Clint for 3 dollars pretty much made my mind up.” Bucky said, shrugging again.

“I- I don’t know how to handle you sometimes when you say things so straight forward.” Sam admitted, his hands flailing a little before dipping into his pockets.

“Yeah? It must be that confidence you mentioned being attracted to earlier.” Bucky said, winking at Sam and getting into his car.

“You don’t have to get used to it, but it’s probably not going anywhere.” He called to Sam out the window. He heard Sam laugh.

“And by the way, you look far more attractive in that sweater vest than you have any right too. See you tomorrow Sam!” he said, giving him a little salute and driving away as Sam waved at him from the porch. He kept watching Sam in the review mirror, smiling when he saw him do a little spin, and nearly running into a mail box before pulling himself together, smiling like an idiot all the way home.

**Author's Note:**

> VVVV ((( this is a link to the post on my main blog ))) VVVV
> 
> http://werewolfbvcky.tumblr.com/post/174021294322/earlgreytea68-the90swerentreal-one-time-in


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